Can we do hard things?

yes this is possible, if we train our brains to tolerate the discomfort and anxiety you will notice that our greatest fears don't come true. So the anxiety will go away eventually. But i know it's hard, going thru the same thing right now.

I don’t know if you have OCD or if you’re getting counseling for OCD but I have found that the counseling I have gotten through NOCD has been a huge help. As for the feelings of anxiety I would say for myself with OCD is OCD has one weapon and that is doubt. It could be, Did I leave the light on? Did I insult someone by what I just said? Am I . . .? Etc, etc. For treating OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) that is you purposely do what causes the anxiety and not do the compulsion to relieve the anxiety and let it subside in its own as you get on with your day. The anxiety does go down and that trains the brain that it is a false alarm. For me my ERP with hit and run OCD was not to go back and check if I hit someone, but to keep driving and thinking that someone was now flipping around on the road needing medical help. Was there anxiety? Yep. Has it become less of an issue? Absolutely. I have had shed tears and sweat from saying “No” to OCD. It is hard but it is so worth it. No one can do it for me. The only difference between you and me is what triggers us. I know you can say “No” to OCD 👍.

Yes, accepting the feelings associated with OCD is part of the recovery process. When I first started ERP, it was really difficult to tolerate the discomfort. Even when I did the "easiest" exposures, I would have panic attacks. At times, I felt like I was going to collapse. However, the more I exposed myself to the things that scared me, the more I built tolerance to them. Over time, the panic attacks weren't as intense, and now they only happen when I'm doing "harder" exposures. I think your body can handle the discomfort as long as you're doing it in a safe way with a trained professional. If you did an extremely difficult exposure your first time, that would be unhealthy because your mind and body would not know how to handle the situation. Think of athletes who train for marathons. If someone who never trained ran a marathon, they would most likely get very sick because their body was never trained to handle that type of exercise. You need to build endurance over time. Also, the foundation of ERP therapy is learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Your thoughts make you uncomfortable, and in return, you do compulsions to make yourself feel comfortable. Let yourself be uncomfortable. When you are OK with being uncomfortable, your anxiety will lessen because you won't be as afraid.

It’s hard work but you can do it. It is much more manageable to do it with an ERP therapist versus on your own.